Routines and Secret Identities
by Alex Ryzlin Gold
Summary: Written for Pezberry week, day three - AU: Nerd!Santana and popular!Rachel. Santana's always just been in the background in her nerdy superhero shirts but she has more than one hidden secret, and a lot more people looking out for her than Rachel anticipated when she first asked Santana out.


**Title:** Routines and Secret Identities

**Author:** Alex Gold (Ryzlin)  
**Fandom:** Glee  
**Pairings: **Rachel/Santana, Quinn/Finn, mentioned Santana/Brittany  
**Rating:** Teen for minor swear words and mentions of sex  
**Disclaimer: **I don't own Glee. I would like to though.

**Warnings/Spoilers: **Minor spoilers for season three mentioned in passing.

**Summery:** Written for Pezberry week, day three - AU: Nerd!Santana and popular!Rachel. Santana's always just been in the background in her nerdy superhero shirts but she has more than one hidden secret, and a lot more people looking out for her than Rachel anticipated when she first asked Santana out.

Rachel glanced at Brittany when the normally happy girl let out an annoyed huff of air. She followed Brittany's gaze to see Santana Lopez, resident nerd wiping her glasses clean on the one corner of her t-shirt that wasn't drenched in slushie. Once she had placed her glasses back on Santana quickly walked to her locker, pulled out a bag and disappeared into the closest bathroom.

Rachel gently squeezed Brittany' hand, she knew that Brittany hated to see anyone get hurt, and as best friend it was Rachel's job to comfort Brittany. Brittany turned to her and smiled slightly, but she still wasn't back to her normal cheery self. Quinn was of course, oblivious to everything but Finn walking down the hallway towards them. He high fived Karofsky for throwing the slushie before turning to Quinn and kissing her lightly on the lips. Rachel and Brittany were forced to stop in the middle of the hallway to wait for Quinn.

"Hey Quinn. Hi Brittany, Rachel. What are you guys up to?"

Quinn smiled and took Finn's hand. Rachel had to hold back a giggle at Brittany rolling her eyes.

"I think we're meant to be going to class. We are at school right? Or is it the holidays already? Rach, why are we at school during the holidays?" Brittany lifted the pitch of her voice, making it seem as if the comment was more innocent that she meant it.

Rachel had learnt rather early on in her friendship with Brittany that she wasn't as dumb as people thought she was. It was a careful act that Brittany had perfected shortly after Rachel had met her freshman year at Cheerleading tryouts. All three of them, Rachel, Brittany and Quinn had made it onto the Junior Varsity squad and had out performed all the other girls on the squad. No one was surprised when they were moved up to the Varsity squad the next year. Nor were they surprised when Quinn and Rachel became co-captains in their sophomore year. Now as juniors, they were still at the top.

Three and a half years, and Rachel still hadn't figured out why Brittany acted dumb. She'd tried to ask about it, but all Brittany would say was that 'it was for the best' before acting dumb again. But three and a half years did make Rachel an expert at recognising and understanding Brittanyisms most of the time.

"It's not the holidays, B. We are heading to class. _If _Quinn would _hurry up_, of course. Finn is in Spanish with us."

They finally arrived in Spanish (before Mr. Schuester, what a surprise…) and took their seats. It was a few more minutes before Mr. Schuester arrived and started to teach them butchered Spanish. The highlight of the class was Santana arriving late with a new superhero t-shirt and slightly damp hair. Mr Schuester looked like he was going to give her a detention until she started speaking in rapid fire Spanish that he couldn't understand. Giving up, Mr, Schuester nodded and gestured to the desk Santana normally sat at.

"Just don't let it happen again."

Santana wore a slight smile as she walked towards the back of the class. Her eyes wandered to where Brittany was trying not to laugh out loud and Santana's smile grew slightly. She sat at the back of the class, doing whatever it was that she did every Spanish lesson.

"What's so funny?" Rachel said, nudging Brittany.

"Nothing much. I was just thinking about Lord T. He rolled down the stairs this morning to get breakfast."

Rachel wouldn't be surprised at Lord Tubbington rolling to get places, especially to get food. That cat was huge and more ball shaped than cat shaped.

/-/-/-/-/

The rest of the week continued as normal, except for the progressively angrier glares Brittany was producing on a daily basis. At first Rachel had thought it was because Brittany had always been against bullying, but as she continued to watch, Rachel noticed that there wasn't a moment they saw Santana in which Brittany was unhappy and glaring. This was one Brittanyism that Rachel couldn't figure out. As far as Rachel knew, Brittany had nothing against Santana's nerdy self, and even bordered on liking her.

It had become a regular occurrence for Santana to walk into Spanish late in new clothes rambling something in Spanish. Mr Schuester would just nod and let her sit down. It was kind of pathetic.

Rachel liked Mr. Schuester as much as it was possible to like him; which sadly, wasn't a whole lot. He was a horrible Spanish teacher, and if Rachel wasn't serious about her education and studied almost every night, she knew that she'd be failing Spanish. At Glee, Mr. Schuester was … adequate. He focused slightly too much on Journey, and tended to be incredibly unfair when it came to trying to give her solos away (_trying_; Rachel was still cheerleading co-captain, and people didn't say 'no' to her). Then there was his ridiculous hair and vest collection which always made Rachel shudder. She could only just respect him as a teacher (Glee, not Spanish of course), but as a person? No. Too often his problems had resulted in a bad situation for the Glee club.

Despite her sort-of like for him, Rachel still found it hilarious (and sad) when he nodded to Santana while she explained that she was late due to being kidnapped by a chupacabra which then realised she wasn't a goat and was no longer interested in drinking her blood.

Something was different that day, though, and Mr. Schuester asked Santana to stay behind after class. Rachel was curious simply because Mr. Schuester was so relaxed and bad at Spanish that he never asked anyone to stay behind. At the end of the day, in Glee, Rachel found out what their conversation as about. Mr. Schuester was late, as always, but he didn't start the lesson as soon as he walked in the door. Rather he waited for a few minutes, and the reason became clear when Santana slowly opened the choir room door and stepped inside.

"Alright! Santana, you're here!"

"No by choice, if you remember correctly."

Mr. Schuester's smile dimmed slightly, but he soon got over it.

"So are you ready to audition?"

"No, and I'm not going to."

"Santana, everyone auditions."

"It was incredibly rude of you to demand I join a club I don't want to, and then expect me to audition."

Quinn let out a deep sigh. "Why do we need her anyway? She doesn't want to be here, so let her be a loser somewhere else. It's hard enough to try and make this club less lame with the current members; we don't need to add the school's resident nerd queen."

Santana glared from behind her thick glasses, and Rachel couldn't help but think it was kind of cute. Santana was rather short after all, and she wasn't a particularly intimidating figure, so Rachel didn't know what reaction her glare was expected to cause with Quinn, but it wasn't intimidation.

That started yet another routine. Santana joined glee because they needed a twelfth member, and every meeting she refused to sing in anything other than a group number, and Quinn insulted her for it. Brittany's glares had calmed since Santana had joined glee, but the dark look Brittany had given Santana on the first day still made Rachel nervous. Brittany had looked murderous. Santana still came to Spanish late most days with a new shirt on, but she didn't even bother coming up with excuses anymore.

That changed when Mr. Schuester announced that glee was going to be performing a concert to raise money for Regionals (they had obviously won Sectionals once they had enough members to compete) and that everyone had to perform at least one solo. Santana didn't come to the next meeting after that, and she ignored Mr. Schuester when he asked her to stay behind after Spanish.

It baffled Rachel. Maybe she couldn't sing, and didn't want to embarrass herself. But surely Mr. Schuester would let her pass on the concert if that were the case. Or maybe she had severe stage fright when she was a single attraction, but again, Mr. Schuester wouldn't force her to perform. Rachel hated not having an answer, so the next day she arrived even later than Santana, and sat next to her.

Santana gave her a suspicious glare but ignored her for the rest of the lesson.

"You're a good drawer." Rachel said with slight surprise when she noticed that what Santana spent her Spanish class working on what appeared to be a comic. Rachel wasn't completely sure what a comic looked like.

"I know." Santana spoke quietly and not nearly as confrontationally as she did with Quinn and Mr. Schuester. It was kind of weird, but Rachel figured that meant she could push her luck.

"What is it?"

"It's a comic." Mentally, Rachel did a happy dance. She'd been right.

"You know this conversation could be a lot easier for both of us if you actually tried."

"It's a comic about a superhero."

"Which superhero?"

Santana snorted softly. "How many superheroes do you know?"

"Um, Superman…" Rachel glanced down at Santana's shirt, taking in the black bat in a yellow oval. "Batman…I think that's all the superheroes I know."

"I'm drawing a comic about the Veiled Fairy. I made her up."

Rachel was actually mildly impressed. That took some creativity. Before she was able to comment on it, the bell rang and Santana was up and out of her seat. Rachel hurried to catch up to Santana in the hallway.

"Santana!"

Santana froze and turned her head slightly to look at Rachel.

"Yes? If you plan to slushie me, I'd appreciate it to happen sooner rather than later. I have a class to get to."

"Why weren't you in glee?"

"I don't see how that's any of your concern."

"I'm the captain of glee, and member attendance will always be my concern."

Santana turned to face Rachel. "I've never sung a solo in my life, and I don't want to start now only to humiliate myself. I get enough of that on a daily basis. Why should I give the people who torment me even more ammo?"

"What if I helped you?"

Rachel could just make out a blush on Santana's cheeks as she hugged her folder closer to her body. "Maybe. We'll see."

Santana turned around and hurried off.

/-/-/-/-/

That answer hadn't been good enough for Rachel. So after chasing down Mike (they both liked comic books, shouldn't they hang out or something?) for Santana's address after Sam proved imposable to find, Rachel made her way over after Cheerios practice later that evening. After knocking on the door (twice) Rachel was finally greeted by Santana. Santana frowned deeply at her.

"You're not the pizza guy. What are you doing at my house?"

Rachel smiled brightly. "I though that now would be a good time to practice your solo for the concert."

Santana didn't have time to answer with two cars pulling up at the same time. One was the pizza delivery, driven by Sam and the other was a light blue car that Rachel would have recognized anywhere as Brittany's. Sam got to the door first and handed the pizza over to Santana.

"Your pizza, my lady."

"You're such a dork, Sam." Santana said with a small smile as she handed over a large bill.

"Takes one to know one. Thanks for the tip."

"You're welcome."

"Enjoy your night." Sam glanced down at Rachel and back at Santana. "Yeah… bye Santana. Um… Rachel…"

"Good bye, Sam." Sam waved warily at Rachel before hoping in the pizza car and driving off.

Brittany walked up behind Rachel and pushed her aside slightly to get inside Santana's house. Rachel was confused, completely and utterly confused. Santana turned and walked into her house.

"Shut the door behind you." She called out, and Rachel could only assume that meant she was invited inside. Rachel found Brittany and Santana in the living room, eating pizza and watching TV. Brittany was shoving pizza in her mouth like her life depended on it, and Rachel didn't blame her. She estimated that Brittany would have only had just enough time to go home, take a quick shower, pick up the bag she had brought in with her and drive to Santana's after Cheerios practice ended. Santana was eating at a slower pace, but she hadn't spent the past two hours following Coach Sylvester's orders.

"You can have some if you want." Santana offered.

Rachel shook her head. "No thank you. I'm vegan."

Santana paused mid chew before quickly swallowing. "I sure there's something in the kitchen if you want to have a look."

"I'm fine. I've already eaten."

Santana shrugged and continued to eat. Rachel slowly made her way over to the sofa and perched on the edge of the seat. Santana and Brittany were intently watching some show that Rachel couldn't recognize, but that wasn't as surprising as it seemed to be a reality show, and Rachel's knowledge of reality consisted of American Idol. The whole situation was weird. Santana was still wearing a superhero t-shirt, but she was slouched over and far more relaxed than she was at school. Brittany wasn't nearly as cheery as Rachel normally saw her; in fact she looked rather annoyed. Her annoyance didn't seem directed at Santana though. In fact Brittany didn't glare at all when her gaze turned to Santana. What was going on?

Rachel decided to breech the silence. "I didn't expect to see you here, Brittany?"

Brittany's eyes slowly moved off the TV screen and to Rachel. "I didn't expect to see you here either. At least I was invited."

Rachel blinked a few times. Had Brittany just been _mean_ to her? Rachel opened her mouth to respond but Santana interrupted her.

"No talking while the Real House Wives of Beverly Hills is on."

And that was that. None one talked again until the show was over, though Rachel did debate the pros and cons of reality television in an internal monologue. Once it was over, Brittany flicked off the TV and turned to Rachel.

"Why are you here, Rach? You're not friends with Santana."

"I know, but as glee captain I felt that I should help Santana out. She expressed that she was unsure of her ability to perform a solo at the fundraising concert and I believe that I have the ability to judge the situation and offer a solution. Should Santana's ability to sing prove lacking, I'm sure I could convince Mr. Schue that it would benefit glee club for Santana not to sing a solo at the concert."

"You'd do that?" Santana asked.

"Forcing you to sing wouldn't help anybody, let alone glee club, so yes, I would 'do that'."

Brittany giggled quietly. "I told you she wasn't as bad as she seems."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rachel huffed, but was ignored because Brittany was talking again.

"Do you really think you won't be able to sing?"

Santana sighed. "I've just never done it before, and I just don't know."

Brittany frowned for half a second before grinning and standing up to bounce on the balls of her feet.

"What if I dance with you and Rachel sings back up?"

Normally, Rachel would be offended at Brittany pushing her to the back except she was kind of curious about Santana's singing ability. It wasn't like she was losing a solo anyway.

Santana shrugged. "I don't know."

"I bet you already have a song picked out." Brittany teased.

Santana's blush was hard to see on her darker skin, but it was definitely there. "Maybe."

"Awesome." Brittany pulled Santana up and started to lead the way up stairs. As she passed Rachel she grabbed and yanked on Rachel's hand, forcing her to follow. They ended up in what Rachel could only guess was Santana's bedroom. The walls were covered in posters, mostly of comic book characters, but there were also a few singers on the wall (most notably Amy Winehouse). One wall housed a large TV in a cabinet. The bottom door was held open showing off a large collection of games. Another wall housed a bookcase with various books and movies, but surprisingly, no comic books.

"No comics?"

Santana gestured towards her open wardrobe. "They're in the back of the closet so that the sun doesn't fade the covers. What are we doing up here, Britt?"

"Singing. Well, you're singing. Go on."

Santana awkwardly made her way to the TV cabinet and turned on the TV before shuffling through the mp3 already plugged in. She clicked a song on and stepped away from the TV. Rachel recognized the beginning notes of 'Valerie' by Amy Winehouse, and then Santana was singing along. It was an instrumental version, so Santana's voice wasn't competing with Winehouse's voice. She sounded amazing. When the song ended, both Brittany and Santana turned to Rachel expectantly.

"You have nothing to worry about, Santana. You were amazing, and I'd be happy to sing back up like Brittany suggested."

Brittany squealed happily and pulled both of them into a hug before skipping over to the TV and starting the song again.

"Okay, let's practice."

They practiced 'Valerie' for a good hour before Rachel had to leave. Santana walked her out and thanked her quietly when they reached the door.

"It's no problem Santana. You really are an amazing singer."

"Thanks."

"I expect you to be back in glee on Monday."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Yes, captain."

Rachel got in her car and drove away. She was half of the way home when she realized she had no idea why Brittany had been at Santana's house. She had been so sure that Brittany hated Santana!

/-/-/-/-/

Another routine was developed, but this one involved Santana, Brittany and Rachel meeting once a week during lunch to practice 'Valerie' in the auditorium. During short breaks to drink water, and their designated (by Rachel) eating time towards the end of lunch (so as to not cause cramps) they talked. Secrets were never revealed, and conversation stayed light, but it was nice. Rachel had always enjoyed Brittany's company, but she was starting to appreciate Santana's, too. Santana was witty and sarcastic, but admitted to being far too nervous around school to let other people see. She had nicknames for everyone, and Rachel was still trying to find out Santana's nickname for her. She hadn't been back to Santana's house since the first time, and every time she tried to bring Santana up in conversation with just Brittany around, Brittany skillfully changed the conversation topic. Rachel's questions were never answered, but she became more and more sure that she was actually happy to hang around with Santana. It was weird, because Santana had been at the bottom of the social ladder since her first day. Popularity had always been important to Rachel. Popular cheerleaders did not hang out with nerdy girls. Except that they did. Brittany had apparently been doing so for a while, and now Rachel was.

They had two weeks until the concert, and Rachel knew that Mr. Schuester would insist that Santana perform her song this afternoon in glee. She may not have had her other questions answered, but there was one question Rachel would get an answer to.

"Santana, why did you join glee?"

Santana ignored her and kept drinking from her water bottle. They had been practicing the dance routine for 'Valerie', and while it wasn't anywhere near the hardest routine that glee or the Cheerios had done, Santana didn't have the advantage of Sue's workout regime. Brittany tended to forget that not everyone had the same level of energy as her, and had been forced to stop the practice for a water break by Santana.

Santana let out a deep breath as she dropped her now empty water bottle next to where she was sitting on the stage.

"I wasn't given a choice. Mr. Schuester said that if I didn't join, I would fail Spanish."

Rachel frowned. "I was always under the impression that you spoke Spanish fluently. You always seemed to have something to say when you came in late."

"I do. My abuela only spoke Spanish in her home, so my parents had to teach me."

"I don't understand. How could you possibly fail then?"

"Apparently coming late to every class is enough to convince Principal Figgins that I'm failing. Mr. Schuester heard me singing one day and the next thing I know I'm being told I need to join glee or I'll fail his class. You do the math."

Rachel gasped. "That's despicable."

"Whatever. Let's go though the routine again."

Anymore chances at conversation were cut off when Santana left during the designated 'eating time'.

"Don't worry about it." Brittany said softly. "Santana's just annoyed that she's being controlled. She's not angry at you."

/-/-/-/-/

As Rachel knew he would, Mr. Schuester called on Santana to perform the song she had chosen. Santana didn't even look up from the book she was reading (not a comic book, for once).

"Come on Santana. We're a team, and we all need to participate. I've been rather disappointed with your efforts so far."

That got a reaction from Santana. She glared at Mr. Schuester, and Rachel could see the hate radiating from Santana's body.

"Considering the circumstances of Santana's addition to glee, I find it quite hypocritical that you're now enforcing a rule about participation, Mr. Schuester." Rachel said calmly.

Mr. Schuester looked at Rachel, and she saw a quick flash of fear across his face. Apparently he knew that blackmailing a student was wrong, he just didn't care.

"After all, you didn't force her to audition, nor have you insisted that Santana perform before now. You could at least remain consistent in your decisions."

"Rachel, this is different. We're all performing at the concert in two weeks, and I think it's only fair that everyone in the glee club gets to see what everyone else is performing before hand. We need to sort out the order of performances after all. And to be honest, no one has heard Santana sing alone before, and I can't let her go out on stage if she's going to give glee club a bad name."

A few people in the club nodded. Brittany looked like she wanted to murder someone, and currently that someone was Mr. Schuester. Santana just sat in her chair with her mouth hanging open. Her mouth snapped shut and she started muttering in Spanish.

"No offense, Mr Schue." Rachel said lightly. "But that's a lie. Firstly, it's not different. We've already competed at Sectionals, and if you were really concerned, this should have been brought up before then. Secondly, you've heard Santana sing, and so have Brittany and I. Santana is quite a good singer, and won't make glee club look bad at all, especially since I've been working with her on her solo for the past few weeks. Of course you know that, as it was in my memo to you three weeks ago."

Mr. Schuester nodded, but looked away guiltily. Rachel knew that he didn't read the memos, but she continued to write them because it allowed her to order her thoughts. And at times like these, it allowed her to get away with pretty much anything. Rachel was pretty sure that the memos never made it further than the waste basket next to Mr. Schuester's desk.

"I think Santana would fit well between Kurt and Mercedes."

Mr. Schuester nodded before changing the topic. He never really argued with her over glee things after Rachel had spent an hour systematically deconstructing his opinion one meeting. There was a reason Coach Sylvester liked Rachel, and it wasn't her voice (sadly) but her ability to clearly describe a person's faults.

Santana looked up at Rachel and smiled slightly before looking away. Rachel's hand dropped to her suddenly uneasy stomach. Why did she feel all tingly?

/-/-/-/-/

It wasn't until Rachel saw Santana singing on stage that it hit her. Half way though a spin, Santana winked at her as she moved in time with Brittany. Rachel performed her own spin and the next thing she knew there was a hand slapping her arse. At first she thought it was Brittany, because Brittany did that sort of thing (don't even get her started on the time Brittany pantsed her at last years cheerleading Nationals). But Brittany was on the other side of the stage and giving her a look that could only really be described as raunchy (and slightly knowing?). Santana however was standing within touching distance as Rachel fawned over her (it was part of the routine, okay?) and smirking ever so slightly. For the first time in her life, Rachel felt nervous while on stage, and it had nothing to do with performing. Crap. Rachel liked Santana. _Like _liked her.

/-/-/-/-/

Rachel stewed in her new found knowledge for three weeks before she decided to act. She no longer had her weekly practices with Santana, so that was out, and there was no way Rachel was going to put Santana through the embarrassment of being asked out in glee. That was pretty much a sure fire way to ensure Santana said no. So Rachel carefully planned a visit to Santana's house when she knew Brittany would be at dance class, and hoped that Santana would be home. She was home, which was actually the hardest part.

"Um, hi Santana. Can I come in?"

Santana gazed at her questioningly, but gestured for Rachel to enter.

"Do you want something to eat or drink?"

Rachel quickly shook her head. "No I'm fine. I just wanted to talk to you."

"Okay." Santana led Rachel into the lounge and they sat down. "What did you want to talk about?"

Rachel smiled nervously. She could do this. She was the head Cheerio, the head bitch at McKinley with her future shining ahead of her. Santana would be stupid to turn her down. Right?

"Will you go out with me? On a date? This Saturday? I mean, um…"

Santana stared at her with a puzzled expression. "Are you serious?"

"Yes! I mean, uh, yeah, I am. I like you Santana, and I only started to like you more as we spent more time together. I've missed our concert practices because that was the only time I really got to hang out with you."

"That's nice, Rachel. But you don't even know if I'm gay."

Rachel froze for a second as horror took over her body. Crap, she hadn't though this through.

"I didn't really think about that."

"Obviously. Look, Rachel, you're a bitch most of the time, and let's be honest, you've tormented me for most of my high school career."

Rachel couldn't move. She hadn't judged this well at all. Why had she thought it was a good idea to ask Santana out?

"But you're actually sort of sweet when you're not doing all that stuff, and I _do_ like girls, so I'd be inclined to say yes."

"Wait, what? You'll go out with me?"

Santana scratched at her head nervously. "Not exactly. I've only had a few people ask me out…"

"Really? That can't be true. You're beautiful." Rachel said quickly. "Sorry, continue."

"As I was saying, I haven't had many people ask me out, and of those who did, none of them have ever actually taken me out on a date."

"Why not?"

"You'll see." Santana smiled sadly. "If you still want to take me out on a date on Friday, we can go. I won't be offended if you change your mind."

Rachel stood up. "I won't change my mind." She said with determination before rushing out of Santana's house. She was half way home when she realized that she probably could have hung out with Santana for a while.

"Damn."

/-/-/-/-/

Rachel didn't even make it to her first class the next day before she was accosted by Becky.

"Coach wants to see you."

Rachel sighed, but followed Becky. She was used to these random meetings. Maybe Coach Sylvester had come up with another way to fail at destroying glee club. Rachel had stopped believing that Coach actually wanted to get rid of Glee, but rather she enjoyed annoying Mr. Schuester with her schemes.

"Sit down Bilbo."

Rachel sat at one of the chairs in front of Coach Sylvester's desk.

"I'd prefer Frodo, if it's all the same to you. He's better known."

Coach Sylvester shrugged. "I don't care what you'd prefer. Now, I've recently been told that you have intentions towards a girl I practically consider a daughter."

Rachel froze. Santana was close to Coach Sylvester? That was … weird.

"You mean Santana?"

"Yes, I mean Santana! Are there other girls that you've been asking out recently?"

"No! Of course not. I was just surprised and …"

"Good. If you ever hurt her, in any way at all, you can kiss your uniform and any cheerleading scholarships goodbye. If I can make it happen, you can also say goodbye to NYADA. I care about Santana. I've watched her grow up alongside my daughter, and I've seen every single success and failure in her life. I love her, and I always will. I hope you fully understand that, because I can and will destroy you if I need to."

Rachel gulped and nodded quickly. Being co-captain didn't stop Coach from being scary.

"I don't want to hurt her, I really like Santana."

"That's good. I just want to see her happy, and if you make her happy, you have my blessing. Now get out."

Rachel quickly stood and left.

Wait. Did Coach Sylvester just say she had a daughter?

/-/-/-/-/

Rachel found Santana in the library during her free period. She was sitting alone, writing out notes from a class. Rachel sat down at the table opposite her.

"I still want to go out with you."

Santana looked up and smiled. "That's nice. Who did you talk to?"

"Coach Sylvester. She warned me about hurting you, and threatened me with everything but bodily harm if I did hurt you in any way."

Santana grinned. "Yeah, she's a bit protective."

"Just a little bit. How did that happen, by the way?"

Santana closed the book she was writing notes into and faced Rachel.

"Sue gave birth at the same time as my mother." Santana gave Rachel a lopsided grin. "I do understand how weird a concept that is for you. Anyway, they met at the hospital, and decided that they would meet up once a month to get away from their husbands and have some alone time with their new born daughters. Inevitably, Sue's daughter and I became friends, and then best friends. We grew up together, and we had this plan that when we started high school we were going to join the Cheerios, and be the most popular girls in school. But I got pneumonia a week before freshman year and started three weeks late. I was slushied on my first day, and Sue explained what it meant, and what would be expected of me as a Cheerio. I decided not to join after I learnt all about it. Be thankful, I could have easily had the position of Head Cheerleader."

"That's … wow. That's kind of amazing actually. What about your best friend? What happened to her?" Rachel lent forward, listening intently.

"She's on the Cheerios. We're still close. She was my first, um… my first pretty much everything. She was the first person I told when I figured out I was gay, and my first kiss. We tried dating, but decided to stay friends instead."

"Was she your first?"

"First what?"

Rachel blushed. "You know what I'm talking about!"

"Yeah, I do, and yes, she was."

"Who is it?"

Santana shook her head. "Now that would be telling. The same conditions from before still apply. Tell me by Friday if you still want to go out on a date."

Santana stood up, packed her bag and walked off, waving at Rachel.

/-/-/-/-/

Rachel didn't know what she had expected, but Brittany pulling her into the bathroom between fourth and fifth period on Thursday hadn't been it.

"Out."

All the girls pretty much ran outside, trying not to get on Brittany's bad side. It wasn't often that Brittany got angry, and when she did, you got out of the room quickly. As soon as everyone had left, Brittany's face softened.

"Hey, Rach."

"Hi, Britt. You were rocking the scary look just then."

"Yeah, I do that sometimes."

"What's up?"

Brittany grinned happily. "If you hurt Santana, I'll kill you."

"What?"

"If you hurt Santana, I will kill you."

Rachel stared at Brittany with wide eyes. Now she understood why people never actually went on dates with Santana. If angry Brittany was scary, then this Brittany was terrifying.

"Did I break you? Santana doesn't like it when I break people."

"Oh, uh, no. I'm not broken; just surprised and mildly terrified."

"Good. I meant it. I love Santana, she's like a sister to me, and I can't stand her being hurt."

"I get it, Britt. I do. I really like Santana."

Brittany squealed and pulled Rachel into a tight hug. "I know. I hope you treat her right."

"So do I."

Brittany let Rachel go and opened the bathroom door so they could leave.

"So Brittany." Rachel said slowly. "You're Coach Sylvester's daughter?"

"Yeah."

"And you've known Santana her whole life, and you're her best friend?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I was so sure you hated Santana. You're always glaring at her."

"Oh, no I'm not. I hate seeing Santana getting slushied." Brittany linked their arms and pulled Rachel down the hallway.

"Oh, that makes sense. I mean, I guessed that something was up after we both turned up at her house. But what about in glee? You certainly didn't look happy when Santana joined."

"No, but that's because she was black mailed into joining. Mr. Schuester threatened to fail her in Spanish if she didn't join."

Rachel stopped walking, tugging Brittany to a standstill. "Doesn't Santana speak fluent Spanish?"

"Yes."

"And Coach Sylvester hasn't done anything to stop it?"

"Mum doesn't know. Santana doesn't want her to know."

"Right." Rachel said with determination.

"You're going to do something, aren't you?"

"Probably, but not until after our date."

Oh my God, Brittany had sex with Santana!

/-/-/-/-/

Rachel arrived at Santana's house straight after Cheerios practise. Santana opened the door, and before she could say a word, Rachel spoke up.

"I still want to take you on a date."

"I had hoped that you would."


End file.
